1940 3 1/2 to 8 ton 2 stroke Diesel

Has anybody ever seen on of these engines? just from looking at this picture thet look pretty rare?

 

Not rare, Detroit Diesel Inline 71. they could be had from three cyl to sixteen. I have a three 71 in a bulldozer.

Dennis

 

Yeah, I've seen them a lot. they've been making them a long time the Navy used them throughout WWII in landing crafts and various boats and trucks. they make 4 cyl, 6 cyl, V6's, V8's, V12's and V16's. It's a good engine for statinary equiptment like generators. You can find them in junk yadrs although the 4cy's are getting a little hard to find, you can still buy new parts for them. It's a pretty versatile motor, I knew a guy that put one in a '76 Ford PU, I don't know the exact combination of transmision he used, but it worked good for him. What are you wanting to know about them?

 

I found this on ebay I didnt know GM put diesels in there trucks back in the 40's. I also didnt know that GM produced trucks as big as 3 1/2 to 8 ton trucks because thats massive.

 

Where did you think all those 6:71 and such, blowers came from?

 

You haven't lived until you've run a 2 stroke Detroit in a truck or piece of equipment with the exhaust pipe a couple of feet from your ears.

 

Man one of my guys used to rebuild these in Alaska in the '60's. I can't wait to get him on here talkin to ya. He's gonna love this.

 

i can tell you this , if you let the rpm down , its a dead duck !!!!!!!!!!!! no guts ... drove a few . steve

 

As I recall there was a 53 series as well as the 71 for boats and stationary applications

 

it gets better if it has a twin stick 5x4 transmission.

They were very popular in the late 60's/early 70's trucks. 6-53 in medium duty, 6-71(426 cu. in./231hp) in medium/heavy duty, 8v-71(568 cu in./318hp) in heavy duty.

Trucks drove best if you slammed your fingers in the door first. Drive 'em when pissed off and they go better. Need rpm's for any power.

Also found in Oliver tractors. Few in John Deere as well.

Believe it or not, these engines, 40-50 years ago pioneered the heavy duty trucking industry.

When real men drove trucks

 

So do you think one would mount up in a 46 chevy 3/4 ton truck. Or since it was used in only GMC trucks would the mounts be different? Also would the bellhousing bolt pattern bet different to? I wouldnt get alot of power out of it but plenty of torque.

 

I think you will end up doing quite a bit of fab work to get it all put together. Bell housing will be substantially larger. You should be able to find a heavy duty five speed that will bolt up behind it. Mounts will need to be fabbed. Very heavy, so you will need to redo your suspension. This will be a big project and the results may be disappointing, depending on your motivation. Give this careful consideration. Best luck.

 

That is true but I dont plan on running one I going to run my factory 235. I didnt even know GM built diesels back in the 30's and 40's. I just thought it was a cool ad showing a little of Detroits history.

 

I do it every once in a while. We have a truck/tractor with a Detroit in it and the exhaust can be heard for miles!! Wife can hear me coming home, neighbors know when I leave the yard!! Other posters here are right--crank the hell out of it and grab another gear

 

71 series GM's were built in 1,2,3,6,V6, V8, and V12 configurations. Anybody remember the old "Cannonball" TV series? Mike Malone ran a '54 GMC semi with a screamin' Jimmy for the first part of the series, then switched to a '56. GM made lots of different cylinder sizes over the years, 52, 71, 92, all the way up to a 16V562, that's 562 cubes per hole, 16 holes! Can we say, "locomotive"? Or maybe "tugboat"!
One cool use of a Jimmy was as an outboard motor on a USMC landing craft. An 8V53 was stood up on end and hooked to a drive leg and hung on the back end, two per boat. They'd hear ya comin'!!!
Oh, and don't forget all those city buses running 6V71's and turning the wrong way! That's another thing about 'em, they could be set up to run either way, the blower and exhaust manifold could be on either side, too. very adaptable engines.

 

POPE

You told your age!!!Probley only me & you remember CANNONBALL. Ilooked for it but only get train stuff................

 

Ditto on that! Strangely I don't miss it though.My dad coulda gave you some history though. As I remember though he talked of wanting or trying
to adapt a Buda diesel to a truck before he got his first GMC diesel. Had a
purchase contract that spec'd it must pull a loaded trailer at 75 mph on a
level road and some kind of warranty disclaimer. His day job was a heavy
equipment operator (when the ground wasn't froze) and kept his trucks
going working evenings and weekends and all winter.

Dads idea of a roadster...


His first diesel jimmies

Later on...



Then he started getting the GMC aluminum "crackerboxes" with 671's for
power. Below is his first 8v71 "318",a wreck that he rebuilt over a winter.




I remember most of them having straight pipes or very minimal mufflers but still somehow I was able to fall asleep in the bunk on those rare occasions
I got to ride with him somewhere.

 

As a construction surveyor I've spent some time when I was younger checking grade for excavating equipment. I'm sure some of the hearing problems I'm starting to develop now are from working next to Terex TS-24 twin-engine scrapers. The rear engines were 6-71's with a little short exhaust stack on them, the scraper would come into the cut and I'd give hand signals to the operator indicating how much more had to be cut to finish grade. It usally worked out that he would open up the back engine (there were 2 gas pedals) just as it got alongside me.......that, my friends, was NOISE!

The front engines were V's, and they had a muffler.

 

Lots of Cannonballs!
The first picture of the "roadster" earthmover was the basis for a super farm tractor built by the Hutterite colony south of Lethbridge,Alberta in the '50's. They made several of them.

 

The big Diesels were available in the Chevy trucks, as well. It was not a GMC-exclusive thing.

 

I used to work on 80ton Euclid Belly dumps , they had 12/71s with a 8spd. Allison trans . We refered to them as the buzzin dozen.

OLD HEMI

 

I'm curious what the "318" means. I asked my uncle (an old trucker) if he had any 671 detriots laying around i could score the blower from, he told me what i wanted was a "318" and that he had one. I assumed he knew what he was talking about and a week later he gave me a 8v71 blower... dangit.... Is there another name for a 671 detroit i should tell him to look for?

 

Back in '89 I had a 1969 Jimmy 671 ten wheeler dump that I rebuilt the engine, found all the pieces, and put a fuller 13 speed in it with two speed rear axels, lol talk about a lot of shifting!

 

It refers to an 8V71 by its HP rating... 318 horsepower.

I have always heard the 6-71 referred to as a... 6-71. Keep looking, you'll find a blower. I have seen many engines get scrapped with the blower still on them. Check with older/bigger truck boneyards.

The once-popular Detroit Diesel two-stroke engines (53's 71's 92's and 110's) were pretty much killed by emissions regulations and the very little two-cycle production in 2001 (last time I was at their factory) was going to military applications. Their production was then focused on the Series 60 and Series 50 four-cycle engines.

 

I’ve got a 45’ boat with two Detroit 8V71TI’s – that’s 8 cylinders, V configuration, 71 cu in. each cylinder, 2 turbos – one on each side, and intercooled. The turbos blow thru seawater cooled intercoolers before the air goes into the blowers. Nothing like the sound of Detroits starting up in the early morning at the harbor, and nothing like the sound of a 2-cycle diesel – sounds like they are revving twice as high. In my opinion, the 8V71 is the best sounding, followed by the 12V71. I’ve seen all of the configurations of Detroits – the 71’s from single-cylinder 1-71 to the 24V71 Marine, and the biggest Detroit 2-cycles the V20-149TI, made for mining trucks. I used to spend a lot of time in the Detroit Diesel plant, and liked to go back to watch them run new engines on the dynos.

Regarding torque and horsepower, see the attached curves for an 8V71T Commercial model Detroit, as would go in a truck. 1155 ft. lbs. of torque at 1200 rpm and 1005 ft. lbs. at 2300 rpm. A really flat curve - not like a gasoline engine. The 2300 max is controlled by a governor.
<O
If you want to have some fun, go to You Tube and search ‘Detroit Diesel”. You can watch and listen to Detroits in Ford pickups, tractor pulls, drag racers, boats, and engines on test stands. Turn up your speakers

 

These motors are cool as all hell.

From the ICE book by Poulson, in 1939. I think the V-series hadn't been developed yet. They also list the 12-567, a 3.94 cubic foot displacement locomotive engine with 900 brake horsepower. The operation is identical to that of the smaller two-strokes. The efficiency of these things isn't that far from modern diesels, and they incredibly simple.

Whatever the case, hot rodding as we know it wouldn't be the same without the the roots blower from the 71 series.

 

The locomotive engines were made by the Electro-Motive Division of GM, and were made in LaGrange, Illinois and London, Ontario. These are really big engines, and are also 2-cycle diesels. I was in a dyno room at Electro-Motive several years ago while they were doing power runs on a 10-cylinder engine. Max rpm was 900. The larger models max was 600 rpm.
<O
GM also made diesels at the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. These were similar, but were made for big workboats, tugboats, and especially for submarines.

<OThe blower is how the engine works as a 2-cycle. The Detroit Diesels have four exhaust valves, and no intake valves. The blower blows the intake charge in thru windows or ports in the cylinder walls.
</O
For more Detroit Diesel fun, check out Jay Leno’s Garage, which features videos of a 1961 Flxible Starliner bus powered by a 400+ h.p. Detroit 6V92. In one of the videos they go for a drive – the thing really hauls.

 

6-71 was usually rated at 238 hp;some were factory rated lower. A 238 was four valve with big injectors. I have a 2-71 but its not practical for a streetrod.

 

Dont forget the "149" series detroits.. most locomotives ran the 16V149's

 

Believe it or not, the 2 stroke technology was not developed by GM but rather by the Winton Motor Car Company which was purchased by GM. Winton developed the design in the late 20's. Nothing is really new, those old boys thought of everything.